Advocating For Yourself During Fertility Treatments
5 Effective Ways To Feel In Control
Free Download: 6 Ways To Improve Your Chances of Getting Pregnant
When receiving medical care for something as important and emotional as fertility treatment, it’s common to get overwhelmed and stressed, but what might also trigger anxiety is the loss of control over the process. You are trusting your medical team to provide instructions and care to help you reach your goal of having a baby, but you may not want to just blindly follow directions and hope it works.
Finding ways to self-advocate and put yourself in the driver’s seat of your fertility journey is empowering as well as important to your success – no one knows your body as well as you do.
Here are some ways you can advocate for yourself while navigating fertility treatments and building your family.
Educate Yourself –Research your symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options. Knowledge is empowering and can help you make decisions with confidence. Ask your medical team for quality resources to help you understand the plan and goals. Try to resist just google searches since some of what you find could be personal experience and opinion rather than professional information, or be sure your sources are credible.
Related Read: How to Take Back Control of Your Fertility
Communicate – Don’t be afraid to talk with your medical team by asking questions and sharing concerns. If you are unclear or confused about your protocol, it’s important to get answers and make sure you understand the information that you receive. This also goes for any anxiety, side-effects, and discomfort you are experiencing as part of your treatment. Your team can’t support you with a symptom if they don’t know about it and they may have solutions or resources that can help. It’s helpful to ask your team how they prefer to communicate and the best way to reach them, so you are clear on how to get the answers you need.
Know Your Insurance Benefits – Before you begin treatment, it’s important that you understand your insurance benefit and what they cover. The financial investment of fertility treatments can be one of the most stressful aspects of the journey, but anticipating what costs will be covered and what you will be responsible for can help you prepare.
Related Read: How To Pay for IVF
Understand Time Expectations – Fertility treatments can involve a lot of waiting but it helps to understand when you can anticipate results, phone calls, or updates. Don’t be hesitant to ask about the clinic’s protocol for calling with monitoring or blood work results. For example, if you know that the clinic begins calling with results after 2:00 pm, you won’t be staring at your phone at noon. Also, ask if your clinic has an online portal where you can view results once they are available. Remember that its possible to be polite and assertive at the same time.
Explore A Second Opinion – Never be ashamed of exploring for a second opinion. If you are uncomfortable with your medical plan or feel uncertain about what your doctor is telling you – ask someone else. Not every doctor and every patient are going to be a great fit and that’s okay. Your goals of building a family are too important to trust in the hands of someone you are uncomfortable with. Seeking a second opinion may delay your treatment a bit but if you feel it would give you more confidence and assurance to talk to another doctor, do it right away.
Related Read: Effective Self-Care During An IVF Cycle
Prioritize Self-Care – One of the most effective ways to self-advocate is to prioritize taking care of yourself. There is so much that can feel out of your control during fertility treatments but having some calming strategies and tools that are effective for you can put you back in control. Start by identifying what care solutions might work for you – perhaps exercise such a yoga or walking, a creative activity like painting, cooking, or gardening, or maybe trying journaling, a meditation practice, or breathing exercises. Finding the most valuable self-care options for you can benefit your overall health and wellbeing in preparation for treatment.
When infertility treatments leave you feeling powerless, it can be difficult to find the courage to advocate for yourself, especially when it makes you uncomfortable. Try these strategies and see if they offer you more control and confidence while navigating the process.
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